Who buys and controls the CCTV? Back to contents 66 Progressive interpretation of the right to freedom of expression and the right to freedom of peaceful assembly leads to the recognition of the right to protest, which also includes the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs; the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; the right to participation in cultural life; the rights to life, privacy, liberty, and security of a person; and the right to non-discrimination. The right to protest is also essential to securing all human rights, including economic, social, and cultural rights.129 States should ensure that derogable rights (qualified rights), which are integral to the right to protest, are subject to restrictions only on grounds specified in international law. In particular, no restriction on the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, association, or privacy may be imposed unless the restriction is provided by law and is legitimate, necessary, and proportionate. Using facial recognition technologies during protests may discourage people from taking part in protests, which can have clear negative implications for the effective functioning of participatory democracy. Even if applied to police violence in protests, facial recognition may still affect peaceful protesters or bystanders. In other words, the deployment of facial recognition may generate a chilling effect whereby individuals alter their behaviour and refrain from exercising their rights to protest. People might thus be discouraged from meeting individuals or organisations, attending meetings, or taking part in certain demonstrations. Likewise, live facial recognition in public spaces can be used to target journalists, posing a chilling effect on individuals’ and societies’ access to information on protests. A plethora of examples from around the world demonstrate the tendency of states to use CCTV cameras and subsequent add-ons like face and emotion recognition to stifle the right to protest, expression, anonymity, and political speech.130